Sometimes I Wonder About Michelle Malkin…

Michelle is still posting away on the ports “scandal”. One item in particular caught my attention. This post that has a link to the Jerusalem Post which in part contains the following,

In a section entitled “Frequently Asked Questions”, the site lists six documents that are required in order to clear an item through the Dubai Customs Department. One of them, called a “Certificate of Origin,” “is used by customs to confirm the country of origin and needs to be seen by the office which ensures any trade boycotts are enforced,” according to the website.

Oh my God! I’m shocked. I mean the U.S. would never have such a document. Nope, such a document would be unthinkable here in the U.S. I’d be appalled if the U.S. had such a document. And I’m sure Israel doesn’t have a similar document. No, I’m sure one could export items to Israel without an Certificate of Origin document.

Has Michelle Malkin even heard of google? Maybe somebody should e-mail her a link. Sheesh.

Update: Michelle also seems to be upset that the U.A.E. is not like the U.S., case in point the banning of the site Boing Boing. Funny thing is my employer has banned Boing Boing as well (although oddly enough they haven’t banned Fark yet). I find this kind of criticism to be particularly inane. We are talking about a Muslim country and one that doesn’t have the same history in terms of freedom of speech as the U.S. Of course, it is going to be different than the U.S. in regards to things like the internet. Expecting someplace like the U.S. is just dumb. The U.A.E. is a moderate Muslim country and something that needs to be encouraged, but not discouraged.

FILED UNDER: Middle East, National Security, Terrorism, US Politics, World Politics, , , , , ,
Steve Verdon
About Steve Verdon
Steve has a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and attended graduate school at The George Washington University, leaving school shortly before staring work on his dissertation when his first child was born. He works in the energy industry and prior to that worked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Division of Price Index and Number Research. He joined the staff at OTB in November 2004.

Comments

  1. Mark says:

    I think the point of the post was to show that the Dubai has a policy of not allowing products that originate in Israel. Nothing is said about the documents not existing.

  2. Steve Verdon says:

    Well duh, it is and Arab/muslim country. Expecting them to be like the U.S. is just silly.

    Oh, and precisely why do you think the U.S. and probably every other country in the world has a similar document…to keep out goods from specific countries. I mean good freaking God.

  3. DC Loser says:

    Maybe the UAE can start blocking Malkin’s site? Can we do that here too?

  4. Al Capone says:

    I think this is what Malkin refers to:
    The parent company of a Dubai-based firm at the center of a political storm in the US over the purchase of American ports participates in the Arab boycott against Israel, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
    The firm, Dubai Ports World, is seeking control over six major US ports, including those in New York, Miami, Philadelphia and Baltimore. It is entirely owned by the Government of Dubai via a holding company called the Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (PCZC), which consists of the Dubai Port Authority, the Dubai Customs Department and the Jebel Ali Free Zone Area.
    “Yes, of course the boycott is still in place and is still enforced,” Muhammad Rashid a-Din, a staff member of the Dubai Customs Department’s Office for the Boycott of Israel, told the Post in a telephone interview.

  5. legion says:

    So, how would the UAE’s boycott affect the operations of US ports? Would their position allow them (legitimately or not) to bar or delay Israeli goods and vessels? I’m guessing thsi question never came up when the UK was running the show, but it seems like something the Commerce Dept should have tackled pretty early in the process – oh wait, they were _told_ what their decision would be before there was ever even a hearing on the subject, right.

    In other news, watch Malkin closely – by the end of the week, one of two things will happen. She will either a) back off of her opposition to this deal (a la Frist), or b) get demonized at other farther-right sites like Free Republic or LGF. Watch the blood fly!

  6. Steve Verdon says:

    Legion,

    I do believe that DP World would have to operate under U.S. laws and hence the U.A.E. boycott would have no impact at all.

  7. TOMO says:

    I guess the UAE is just “misunderstood” and we should be more “sensitive” to this “moderate muslim” country (as you call them Steve). I guess “moderate muslim” means disavowing the existence of Israel and recognizing the Taliban as the rightful government of Afghanistan.

    Don’t you get how BIG this is?

  8. Steve Verdon says:

    No I don’t considering that China operates container terminals in Long Beach as does APL. Maybe if you were making a stink about this issue shortly after 9/11 I’d understand your position, but right now it smacks of outright bigotry.

  9. Anderson says:

    What TOMO said. If you think UAE is “moderate Muslim,” then you are using the word “moderate” in a sense unfamiliar to most people.

  10. Anderson says:

    Kaus has it right:

    But of course the issue isn’t whether the UAE is a friendly government. The issue is whether the UAE is a friendly government whose subsidiary organizations are more easily infiltrated–against the government’s will, presumably–by people who might not be friendly than are other organizations that might manage U.S. ports. It’s hard to believe the honest answer isn’t “yes.”

  11. John Poleshek says:

    Can we Americans honestly expect the U A E to
    keep assisting us with our goals in Iraq and the
    mideast if we treat them differently then the British who ran the ports before them.At the first sign of any discrimination against Jewish
    business intrests by the UAE port managers I am sure the American press will scream loud and clear to discredit W.and I am sure the UAE knows this also.

  12. Steve Verdon says:

    Anderson,

    Did the USSR infiltrate places like the FBI? Has China infiltrated some of the most closely guarded places in the U.S.? The answer is yes. Putting a U.S. company in charge of the ports isn’t going to be any sort of protection against the problem you are worried about. In fact, if might give a false sense of security. I find your argument completely unpersuasive.